Examining Michigan's possible (barring extreme chaos) bowl games and opponents.

There is an extremely miniscule chance Michigan somehow makes the playoff (all three of the following would have to likely have to happen: Clemson loses to Virginia Tech, Colorado beats Washington, Penn State beats Wisconsin in a very flukey way by a razor thin margin. Oklahoma winning over Oklahoma State by a very small/flukey margin helps as well). 

However, realistically we have two possible destinations: the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida (likely) or the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

Rose Bowl:

What needs to happen:

• Two Big Ten teams must make the playoff. Michigan is guaranteed to be at worst the third highest ranked Big Ten team (we will be ahead of the loser of the title game given their third loss and our head to head victory). The Rose Bowl takes the Big Ten Champion if they are not in the playoff, otherwise they take the highest ranked team from the Big Ten. Ohio State is very likely in the playoff, but if they somehow fall to #5 they will be in the Rose Bowl over us. 
• Washington must beat Colorado. The funny thing about this is that it makes the point above less likely to happen, as the Huskies are going to be in the Top 4 if they win in Santa Clara this Friday night. However, Colorado has next to no chance of going to the playoff, and if they beat Washington they are guaranteed a spot in the Rose Bowl as the PAC 12 Champion. They will not play a rematch of a regular season game given they have other options for where to put Michigan. 
• Therefore, Clemson likely needs to lose to Virginia Tech to eliminate the ACC from the playoff if the Wolverines are going to end up in Pasadena. 

We would play: 

• USC is the only option here. If Washington wins, they're in the playoff and if Colorado is playing in the Rose Bowl, Michigan won't be. The Trojans are poised to be ranked right around #10 in the country, as they finish with a 9-3 record (with a road win over Washington); Southern California is on a 7 game winning streak. They were blown out by Alabama in the season opener in Dallas, lost on the final play of the game at Utah and were beaten by a sizable margin on the road against Stanford. 

Orange Bowl:

If any of the above scenarios above fail, we are very likely in the Orange Bowl. (Most scenarios have us here). However, what is interesting is who we could play because the ACC is an absolute mess with zero 10-2 teams and three 9-3 teams behind Clemson: 

• Florida State finished 9-3 and is poised to be the highest ranked 9-3 ACC team. They are currently ranked #15 and just blew out the #12 team (Florida). They also have the largest fanbase (tickets and TV ratings) of the three possible teams and are local within the state. 
• Louisville also finished 9-3 and absolutely destroyed the Seminoles; the problem is that they are on a 2 game losing streak, both to unranked opponents, one of which was at home. Also, the Cardinals have by far the smallest football fanbase of the three options. But they will cry outrage if FSU is slotted over them given they won by a score of 63-20. 
• Virginia Tech also finished 9-3, won the ACC Coastal and will play Clemson in the ACC Championship game. The Hokies did not play either Louisville or Florida State. If they lose to Clemson this seems unlikely, but who really knows. If they beat Clemson, it's also hard to know. They would still likely be ranked below the Tigers and the Orange Bowl does NOT have conference champion guarantees like the Rose does. 
• Clemson. If the Tigers lose to Virginia Tech they will be the highest ranked ACC team and Michigan vs. Clemson would be a "what could have been in the playoff" marketing draw. The winner of that game would finish at worst #5 in the nation (higher if a playoff team has an MSU-esque performance).  

Where would you prefer to play and against who? What do you think will happen with the mess that is the top of the ACC?